Friday, December 26, 2014

The Central Bank of Nigeria says the post-devaluation band for the naira is “appropriately priced”, but black market hawkers are trading it at around three to five per cent below its floor in the run-up to Christmas.

Despite an eight per cent devaluation of the target band and efforts last week to crack down on currency speculation by squeezing liquidity, the naira remained at record lows on Thursday, Reuters reported.

While the central bank and the interbank markets argued over the naira’s fair value, experts noted that it was harder to argue with the price on the streets where many dollars were being bought and sold.